west side story.

If you want a more Dutch/speculaas-tasting version of this, you can bump the ginger, cloves and cardamom up to 1/4 tsp each even maybe. I know that the last time I did this it was better than it was as written below and I used a little more of every spice except cinnamon.

+++

almond apple crisp with brown butter.

6 tbsp almond flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup raw sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp salt
5 tbsp unsalted butter, chilled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3/4 cup toasted almonds, coarsely chopped

3 lbs. apples (I used 8 apples), half sweet and half tart, peeled, quartered, and cut into 1-inch chunks
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 cup raw sugar
1 and 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp lemon zest

5 tbsp butter, browned to a beurre noisette

+++

Combine everything from the first group of ingredients except the butter and almonds in the bowl of a food processor. Add butter and pulse ten times, four seconds per pulse. Add almonds and pulse five more times, one second each. Refrigerate for 15 minutes while you put the apples together.

Adjust rack in oven to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 190C/375F. Add second group of ingredients to a big bowl and stir to coat everything thoroughly. Put apple mixture in a 9" square baking dish or similar, distribute topping evenly over top, bake for 40 minutes. Drizzle brown butter over top, turn up oven to 200C/400F and bake for 5 minutes or until everything looks properly bubbly and brown.

+++